


Knight to E7

by mistrali



Series: Harry Potter, Canon Divergences [6]
Category: Harry Potter - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-09
Updated: 2020-04-09
Packaged: 2021-03-01 16:35:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 309
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23560177
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mistrali/pseuds/mistrali
Summary: The power of friendship saves the day... again. But not in the way you’re thinking.For the Inktober prompt ‘injured’.
Series: Harry Potter, Canon Divergences [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1280579
Comments: 8
Kudos: 9





	Knight to E7

Acting on an impulse, Harry turned and fled. Speed was his only weapon now. He saw bright green lights echo off the walls, and ran faster. Those were the same lights from his nightmares, and they sounded like bad news.

Past Snape’s flame-doors, with one final gulp from the last of the precious bottle of purple liquid. Past the dead troll. Past the key room, clutching the blue-feathered key like a talisman. Thank God, he thought, when the keys remained inert.

In a last burst of energy, he hauled open the stone door to McGonagall’s chess set. The chessmen were already standing at attention.

Now all he had to do was wait for Quirrell to catch up.

***

Harry felt sweat trickle down his palms, and wiped them quickly on his robes. 

Think like Ron… he had to think - he squinted across the room. What had Ron said? Surround your king with pawns, and then…

“Knight to E7!” he cried, then gulped. This next move would mean injuring Quirrell badly. However much trouble he was in, it had better be worth it. 

“Checkmate,” he whispered. 

The knight turned its blank face towards Quirrell. There was a rumbling and grinding of stone. Quirrell - Voldemort - raised his wand and shrieked a spell, to no avail. The light bounced harmlessly off the white stone. 

Harry averted his eyes as the queen swung her club at his head once, twice. Quirrell collapsed, eyes rolling up in his head, and was dragged off the board.

Harry stared, aghast, unbelieving. His legs were shaking from exertion and fear, but there was no time to stop now. Before he could speak, however, he saw a figure shimmer into view at the corner of the room. “Well played, Harry,” said Dumbledore quietly. He drew his wand from a pocket of his lime green robe, and bore Quirrell aloft.

**Author's Note:**

> 1) ...hey, it’s possible. Playing chess is totally a superpower, and Voldie is so deluded, incompetent and anti-Muggle that he never bothered to learn. Whereas Harry has had an entire year with Ron teaching him moves. 
> 
> Not that I think Harry is any great shakes at chess, but he’s probably better than a deranged, power-hungry Voldie. 
> 
> 2) Yeah, so I fudged the amount of potion in the bottle. 
> 
> 3) ...really, Snape could have put seven identical, paralysing poisons in the bottles, and then had an alarm trip to alert him if anyone was in the room. 
> 
> What if some inquisitive third- or fourth years (e.g. Fred and George) had managed to surpass the other obstacles and taken the lethal poison instead? But hey, this is Hogwarts, so who cares if some random student snuffs it, right? Particularly all those pesky Ravenclaws, Slytherins and Hufflepuffs. All they do is hang around polluting the beautiful pure Gryffindor-scented air.


End file.
